Exclusive Interview: Akkadian talk Mesopotamian Empire, Festivals and Agendas…

Taking their name from the ancient Mesopotamian Empire, ”Akkadian” are a a Cambridge based quintet who like nothing more than to bring fast, hard hitting, Groove Metal songs with a psychedelic undertone of the Progressive to your ear drums. The band expresses a deep interest in ancient history, from the Sumerians to the Egyptians, with a dash of inter-dimensional travel, weaving those  elements into the themes and story telling of their songs so after the release of their impressive third single “Agenda“, we spoke to them about their World…

How did you come to find influences in Mesopotamian Empire? Those themes run through the lyrics of the trio of singles you’ve released so far so do you consider them as the concept for your debut EP or album or ingrained within the band itself?

Danny: “It is definitely deeply ingrained within the band itself. I’ve always had a fascination with Ancient History, mainly the Egyptians and Mayans. But when I was around 16 years old I came across certain Mesopotamian stories online and just had to know more. So I did what any teenager with access to the internet would do and just research, read and watch the sh*t out of everything I could find. Some were factual, others were theories. Regardless, it is all a great content for creative writing.”

Having seen your impressive live set at The Junction, Cambridge from last year you’ve got at least six tracks down and they’re all equally as good, which begs the question, what are your plans for a debut album? Have you enjoyed having the ability change parts within songs as you’ve played them live to see what goes down well? “Right now, we do not see ourselves recording and releasing an album until there is more traction and momentum. Especially when you look at the current consumerism patterns and marketing strategies nowadays. We feel that releasing an album at an early stage for us would be a waste. So, for the foreseeable future, we plan to just release singles a lot more frequently over the next couple of years, alongside gigging, until we feel the time is right to go forward with a debut album. All of the songs you hear in our live set (plus a new one) will soon be available to download/stream. We will be heading back into the studio within the next few months to record them and are aiming to start releasing by autumn this year. For the most part, the songs we perform live have not changed in the studio version. You may get some small adjustments here and there, but it’s usually just purely related to the flow of the song, like a transition.”

You’ve shared stages with a collection of bands that we know and love including Gutlocker and Seeking The Fallen. What do you feel you’ve learned or gained from those shows that you took into recording “Agenda“? “At live metal shows, you need to keep it heavy, catchy and dynamic, but also to keep it your own. So going into the studio, we took all of the vibes that we project at the lives shows and merge it within this song. We believe that Agenda is a song that definitely ticks the boxes and will engage well with a live crowd once we get back to gigging.”

How did you find working with producer Mike Bennett at Foxhound Recording Studios on “Agenda“? How did you meet and decide to work with him? “Agenda was the second song that we recorded with Mike and it’s always a great experience. He’s such a genuine guy, extremely knowledgeable, hard working and patient; he also shares a similar sense of humour to us, which is a bonus. I believe he was recommended to us by a band that we played a gig with one time. We checked out his quality and really liked it, so we thought we would give him a shot. Needless to say we are returning to Mike to record our next few singles.”

We can certainly see you at the main stage at Tech-Fest or even Bloodstock but where do you see Akkadian in 5 years time? “Thank you! That is very generous of you to say! We hope that in 5 years time this band would be our full time career. Travelling, touring, playing bigger shows and festivals with known bands, as well as having our own dedicated following to all go alongside a debut album release. We have much more to come in the coming months, so keep an eye open.”

You can find the singles of Akkadian over at bandcamp